Tortoiseshell denies "anorak" claims

Mid-winter Cardiff social meeting (event cache)


27 x geocoins


20 x travelbugs

TCA had worried that I should not attend this event, lest I slide rapidly downhill into a social abyss of the anorak kind.

I have lots of observations to make about my first event cache. Not least that my wife had to admit to her friend that "he's gone to a geocaching convention" !!!!!

Too tired to do a full write-up for now. Suffice to say that I behaved like a kid in a sweet shop as I logged off the various tracking numbers. Brought back happy memories of Leicester station platform...

Cannock Chase

Step back in time 2 (traditional cache)


Brindley Bottom

I have noted elsewhere my fondness for the scenery of the midlands of England. So I made a deliberate choice to stop off on my southbound route down the M6 at Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Staffordshire for an exploratory cache hunt, and to find out what the place was like.

I was parked on Brindley Heath - not the prettiest part of Cannock Chase but very interesting caching terrain. I had listed about 6 caches in the area but in the end was relieved to find 2 after an early "did not find".

Took this photo in mid afternoon. In the background is the Pye Green BT Tower.

The Feeling

"Broadsheet journalists love The Feeling" - Clickmusic.com

I have been a fan of The Feeling since their track "Never be Lonely" emerged at the tail end of summer 2006. In November, I saw them on Children in Need and I was struck by their refreshingly pleasant, unpretentious and clean cut public image. Later, I heard on Radio 2 that The Feeling list Supertramp as one of their influences. Influenced by this, I asked for albums of both groups for Christmas.

I got to listen to The Feeling's "Twelve Stops and Home" CD for the first time in depth during my round Wales geocaching tour. I must have listened to it five times all the way through. It chimes with me on several levels - Melody, harmony and (mainly romantic) lyrics.

With the possible exception of Coldplay, I've not been able to "get into" many of the new groups of the 2000s, such as Keane, Snow Patrol etc (though K is a big fan of both the latter 2). However The Feeling have sneaked under my radar! I'm not the best album reviewer but here's one I found by Ted Kord on Amazon.co.uk which chimes almost identically with my own views...

"With "indie" rapidly becoming a by-word for "whinging", it's refreshing to hear an album like The Feeling's debut, Twelve Stops and Home. People who come to this album having only heard the catchy-yet-downbeat single "Sewn" might find the jaunty, upbeat tone of the rest of this album a refreshing surprise. Twelve Stops and Home is pure, summery optimism, with most tracks bouncing along at a happy, head-nodding pace, and packed to the brim with simple, singalong lyrics, including the liberal use of "la-la-la" and "na-na-na". Sure it's lightweight, but that's no bad thing--it cuts like a ray of sunshine right through the knee-hugging depression of contemporaries Coldplay and Keane, with whom the Feeling are sometimes, bizarrely, compared. Instead, Twelve Stops and Home is a pop album straight out of the 1970s, played by young men with guitars and a piano. Which explains why "Fill My Little World" and "I Want You Now" are so cheerful, sounding like Squeeze would have if they sang about puppies. On Twelve Stops and Home, the Feeling may not be out to change the world, but they're happy to make it a bit brighter."

Cheshire Oaks TB hotel

Cheshire Oaks (traditional cache in the "Motorway mayhem" series)


PhotoMom's personal geocoin.

After losing ground around the A55 travelbug hotels, I visited this cache in the industrial sprawl the Wirral / Chershire border, off the M56. The cache was located in a quiet rural oasis, under a tree. Left a diabetes TB and picked up the personal geocoin. Nice cache but quite small for a TB hotel.

Travelodge

Travelodge for TBs (traditional cache)


7 x Travelbugs


Kipped at a Travelodge in true Alan Partridge style, at Northop Hall in Flintshire. Next morning, I headed back west along the A55 to try and find any of 3 "Travelbug hotels" on the Flintshire / Denbighshire border. Missed out on two because of muggles sat in car. However I found the third one on the eastbound side, hidden in a stone wall of a private property - the owners of which are aware of the cache. Coincidentally called "Travelodge for TBs"

Here are the travelbugs and geocoins I was carrying at the Travelodge for humans...

Puffin Pen

Puffin Pen


Zr7's Navstar Coin


Found this cache in the dark, high up on a hillside overlooking Penmaenmawr and the north Wales coast, also Puffin Island off the coast of Ynys Mon. Along with the Devil's Pulpit this is the most beautiful cache site I have visited. Retrieved my first Navstar geocoin.

First virtual cache

Dingle boardwalk (Llangefni, Anglesea) virtual cache


I had planned this virtual cache in advance and was pleased to acquire the virtual icon on my profile. The task was to find the Dingle boardwalk in Llangefni, Ynys Mon, and take a photo of the GPS next to one of the patterned copper discs on "arty" wooden poles. Duly did, and sped back over the bridge away from one of Wales' most volatile constituencies, in psephological terms.

Aberystwyth: unfinished business

Rainbow Series - Orange


Rainbow Series - Green


Wennol I see you again?


Rainbow Series - Red


Samut Prakan, Thailand - Unite for Diabetes Travellbug


Red Squirrel Travel bug

Up to Aberystwyth for an important financial committment, then as dusk fell, to knock off some unfinished business from the Christmas hols. Namely, to complete Red Kite's cache series in Aberystwyth. Found the "Orange" cache that had eluded me n the dark on Constitution Hill before. The, found "Green" in Penglais woods, a beautiful but understated partof town.

Away then to Borth by virtue of the Clarach road to avoid Pyongyang - though I did have to evede "Nancy tickle me fancy's" house - to coin a Maalie phrase - to get to this one, hidden in gorse so used my maglite torch.

Back into Aber to meet Tim of Carvery notoriety. His business empire threatens to rival that of Aber's original Del Boy, Meirion Appleton (minus the sheepskin coat). Talked about his Paintball venture and I taught him about geocaching. I had pleasant steak and ale pie in the Varsity.

Having bid farewell to Tim, I went to the castle to do the "Red" cache. This was particularly tricky, hiden away under large boulders. Did contortions that Romanian gymnasts would have been proud of and eventually grabbed the cache.

Have just checked out the blog of Alan and Anna, aka Forces of nature. They have started a new forum for geocaching in Aberystwyth, which I will look at with interest as I am likely to be sweeping their caches for trackables (and dumping some of my own) when I pass through in the future. They also have a nifty logo for the forum which I've used at the top of this post to link to their site.

A white jeep was in the A44 Elvis cache on the Powys / Ceredigion border but simply didn't have the energy to drive out to this limited edition TB :-(

First cache on Gower!

Langland Bay Cache


The round-Wales trip started by driving from Cardiff to Swansea to drop K off. By now, the toothache had receeded enough, but was tired nonetheless.

After dropping K off in Cardiff, I decided to have a short stop at Mumbles before heading on to Aberystwyth. I parked by the Big Apple - an early childhood memory which I'm sure will be knocked down in the name of "progress" at some point, and I took a photo for posterity.

Photo 1: The Big Apple kiosk, Mumbles

I had initially planned to do the "Mumbles Hill Cache". However I mixed up two sets of co-ords in my GPSr and ended uip in Langland Bay and found a cache there instead. Dropped off the John harrison geocoin with it's specific mission to head west round the globe.

Looking round Langland, it is my consideration that it is in Gower only by way of its physical geography. Otherwise, it "feels" like an appendage of Swansea rather than Gower proper. I look forward to doing a cache or 2 in some of the more scenic parts of the peninsula.

Came back round to Mumbles and looked for the Mumbles Hill cache with proper co-ords this time. I found the general area but not the cache. There were some muggles about and it was time to go anyway. Before I left, I took a phot of Mumbles lighthouse, near the spot where my late Nanny famously met HRH the Prince of Wales. Word has it that HRH advised the assembled throng from the Gower Society to warm themselves with alchoholic beverages...

Photo 2: Mumbles Lighthouse, from Bracelet Bay Car Park

Arrrrrrgggggh!

Should be away in the land of nod as I write this. Tomorrow is the start of an exciting weekend round trip which includes significant personal and cultural commitments. Moreover, the weekend could lift Tortoiseshell's geocaching profile into the stratosphere - new caches, new TYPES of caches, and innumerable trackable items.

Unfortunately, have been dogged tonight by a long-standing dental problem. This involves my gum flaring up like a dormant volcano every few years - usually when I'm on some kind of adventure. It marred the Hamburg and Montreal trips of 2001.

So tonight I've been downstairs with my jaw packed up in frozen sweetcorn - and 3 Anadin to boot. Oddly enough, it seems to have settled down a bit since I turned the pooter on and started blogging.


If this wasn't bad enough - this news in from AFC Wimbledon towers. Hitherto, AFCW had been on a miraculous run in the FA Trophy - the main knock-out cup for the English non-league. They had already beaten two Conference sides (Aldershot and Gravesend & Northfleet, both away). They had been due to line up against former league side Rushden & Diamonds in the next round.


Alas - a statement from the FA. More alarming is the threat of a sanction by the Ryman League. This is clearly the lowpoint in the young history of AFCW since the clubs' formation from the ashes of Wimbledon FC in 2002...

"After an FA disciplinary hearing today, the club has been informed that AFC Wimbledon have been removed from this season's FA Trophy competition and Gravesend & Northfleet have been reinstated. The club will also have to repay £7,000 of prize money from the first round and the third qualifying round. The committee concluded that further FA sanctions would not be appropriate and therefore there has been no fine imposed and the club is free to enter the FA Trophy in future seasons. The decision is a consequence of an unfortunate administrative error and AFC Wimbledon is suffering a a result of an FA crackdown on such situations as evidenced by the sanctions imposed on Bury in relation to this season's FA Cup. The decision is final and binding and there can be no appeal. The club has also been informed that the Ryman Football League is charging us with a breach of league rule 6.1 in fielding a player before having obtained an international transfer certificate. The club will make a further statement at a later time."

Michigan geocoin!

Perth Pathfinders Michigan geocoin

GeoRams John Harrison Silver geocoin

Surreptitious visit out to Cardiff West Services to pick up these two geocoin. The icon on the first one looks like some kind of knight in armour. Actually, it is a map of Michigan - icon for the Michigan state geocoin. This is my first individual state geocoin.

The other coin in the cache was named after John Harrison. As Maalie will know, Harrison apparently solved the longditude question. The GeoRams have specified that the coin must travel WEST around the globe. Happy to oblige this coming weekend...

1st Multicache!

Tiger Bay Toddle (multicache)

A new landmark in my caching career - my first multicache. Also the 25th cache altogether. It took me a week, on and off, to work this one out, including some red herrings. The cache takes the cacher on a wild goose chase round Cardiff Bay. Included one micro cache (which I couldn't find but I guessed the clue anyway) and one microscopic nano cache which was tough.

I am currently in the process of moving house but so far house moving hasn't been a patch on the wailing and gnashing of teeth caused by this cache - located within a few hundered yards of my office!!!

Question 1 – What was the name of Captain Roberts Scott’s ship on his disastrous expedition to Antartica? (5 + 4 letters)

Question 2 – If the tide was at the highest depth marker, how deep would the water be? (6 + 4 letters)

Question 3 – Hanging off this common food additive are historic trade products that passed through the Tiger Bay docks. What are the heavy letters? (2 letters)

Question 4 – “Tide be runnin’ the ______ / ______ / _____” (5 + 5 + 4 letters)

Question 5 – On me you’ll find a micro cache with a question in it (4 letters)

Clue:

I’ve got four strong legs,

But definitely no toes,

I’ve got one strong arm,

But no fingers or nose.

Question 6 – How many birds are on the central rock (5 letters)

Question 7 – If you’ve ever been amazed at how they fit a boat into a bottle, let me now show you how you can sit on that boat. You're looking for a very well camouflaged nano cache towards the stern of the boat.

In the micro are the co-ordinates you’ll need to answer the following question.

What colour are the stars? (6 letters)

There should be six remaining letters once you match all the letters in the answers to the grid. Take the remaining letters and assign a number to their place in the alphabet (eg A = 1, B = 2 etc).

Place the numbers in ascending order and name them in ascending order with the letters T, U, V, W, X and Y. (ie T = smallest number, Y = largest number).

The final cache is at N51 27.abc W3 10.def where

a = X – W

b = V – T – U

c = Y – X

d = W – (V x U)

e = W + V

f = X – (X x T)

BBC tribute to Dr Wally

This just in from "edinacloud" on the TOGs message boards...

"There was a celebration of Pauly's life hosted by the BBC at Broadcasting House today.10 Togs---Hellen Bach,Tudor Raincoat,Kelly Sigh,Gowon Lemmee,Hugh Again,Antonious The Anonymous,The Willowy Iris, Edina Cloud, Cocktail Clare and Lily Livered---were invited as representatives.

Most of the people present were BBC staff who didn't get the chance to go to the funeral.There were friends from the golf club, the music industry, ATV, and even 3 listeners from Belgium.Katie Melua sang 2 songs,and Pauly's sister Viv spoke fondly of her brother.

The event took place in the very room where Pauly threw the plateful of sausages at the portrait of Lord Reith,and when Terry spoke he included this as one of the many stories about their friendship.Lesley Douglas,Ken Bruce,Richard Allinson David Jacobs,Tim Smith, Alan Boyd, Deadly,Boggy and Janet also attended as did "Pause For Thought" presenters Father Brian Darcy,Rev.Rob Gillion and Rev. Ruth Scott.

Beth Neillsen Chapman sent her message via e-mail as she was unable to be there,and there were lots of messages from various countries including a recorded tribute from Australia by the Globetrotting Mega-Vicar (his own description) Canon Roger Royle.

Terry said when talking that this is a celebration and it's now time to draw a line and move forward. "

Thanks, edinacloud.

Hurrah for Cardiff Market

Having lived in Cardiff nearly a decade, it's odd that I haven't visited the market more often. But over the past few months I've been passing through it regularly on the way to work. Found a cafe upstairs there the other day and had beans on toast whilst reading the Big Issue. Another take away is situated downstairs. I photographed the "condemned man's meal" advert last summer.

Ty Ddewi

Capel Non ac arwydd Llwybr yr Arfordir, Sir Benfro.

St Non's Chapel and Coastal Path sign, Pembrokeshire